


Awkward People Are Made For Each Other

by ParadoxProphet



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, TiMER (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Despair, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, F/M, Friends being little shits, Leave me alone I write whatever I want, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates, This is so dumb oh my god, TiMER AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 10:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1645277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadoxProphet/pseuds/ParadoxProphet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ishimaru has no idea how to handle the situation when he realizes his timer is about to reach the end. Little does he know, neither does his soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awkward People Are Made For Each Other

Kiyotaka Ishimaru never paid much attention to his timer. He glanced at it every once and a while, but otherwise it was the last thing on his mind. He was much more focused on his studies instead of the day he would meet his soulmate, he would deal with it when the time drew near. But every once in a while, the thoughts crossed his mind.

He actually felt joy at the idea that he could have a soulmate, though he would never admit it. After all, he had been without friends his entire life aside from Mondo Oowada, and even that friendship was rocky at times. So to think that someone out there would be his perfect match, someone who would love him even with his odd traits and social awkwardness, was enough to make his cheeks red when he was alone. But those thoughts rarely came, as he preferred to be absorbed in textbooks when he was not in classes.

Until the day he realized he was about to meet his soulmate.

By chance, as it usually happened to be, he ended up looking at his wrist and checked his timer. His nerves began to get the best of him when he saw it would be less then twelve hours until he met them. He had never prepared for this! There were no textbooks about how to meet your soulmate! He was completely clueless on what to do! What if they didn't like him? What would he even say to them when they met? What was he supposed to do? He became so worried that he realized he was going to be late for class if he didn't hurry. He practically had to rush to the classroom to make it on time.

Ishimaru had trouble focusing in his classes, as hard as that was to believe. Fear and worries kept repeating over and over again in his thoughts. He made sure that his timer was covered up by his sleeves, as he knew that some of his classmates would pester him with no end if they saw that he would actually find his soulmate in a few hours (he could even hear the mocking comments that Kuwata would possibly make). For once in his life, Ishimaru was thankful for the bell ringing that signified the beginning of lunch, since it meant he could leave the classroom. If he was lucky, he could avoid the meeting entirely and just spend lunch in his dorm room. There was no way he could face them in his state, after all they were probably calm and ready for this unlike him. He just didn't want to go into this unprepared.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a loud voice coming from the dormitory entrance. He looked and saw a group of girls he didn't recognize standing near the dining hall; he assumed they were students of the 79th class, as the new students had arrived two weeks ago. Ishimaru wasn't completely sure, but from where he was standing it looked like one of the three girls was harrassing another. This wasn't what he had in mind, but this seemed like the perfect distraction. He was still the Super High School Level Hall Monitor after all, and it was his duty to handle situations like these. At the very least it could probably stall his meeting with his soulmate. He didn't even bother to check his timer as he made his way over to the group.

"You there!" he shouted, startling the group of girls as he walked ever closer. "Harassment is not allowed on school grounds! If you do not stop this instant I will have to give you deten-"

*Beep*

Before he had the chance to finish speaking,the sound of two timers going off cut him off. He knew it could only mean one thing, and it was causing a sinking feeling in his stomach. One of the two beeps was definitely his own timer, but there were three girls standing in front of him. Any one of them could be his soulmate, but he had no way to tell which one it was from first glance. He first looked at the shortest of the three, a girl with long black hair who appeared to be the neutral party in all of this, but she just shook her head and showed him her broken timer. The second one, a hyper girl with hot pink hair who was certainly the supposed harasser, just seemed to be looking over him as if she were judging him. Ishimaru prayed that it wasn't her, and her words seemed to confirm that.

"Oooooo, he's kinda cute if I do say so myself. Looks like you bagged a realllly nice catch there!"

Ishimaru looked at the last of the three and found himself face to face with a dark-brown haired girl staring at him nervously, her cheeks completely red. She seemed to be clinging onto her scarf (which were the same magenta color as her eyes) and had no idea what to say, as Ishimaru thought he could hear her stuttering "um" under her breath. From the looks of it, this girl was his soulmate. And if the look on her face was anything to go by, she was just as nervous as he was.

\---------------------------

This was not Shizuka Matsuki's day.

The Super High School Level Painter had began her day on a joyful note, seeing that the timer on her wrist told her that in a few hours she would meet her soulmate. Sure, she was nervous, who wouldn't have butterflies in their stomach on a day like this? But she wasn't freaking out at the moment. She had always wanted to meet her soul mate, even if she wasn't sure she truly had one because why would she of all people have a perfect match, so with a deep breath she felt ready to start the day and planned to keep quiet about her timer until after that fateful meeting.

But she didn't expect Kumiko Akamine, Super High School Level Comic Artist and her classmate, to notice her timer and revealing to every one in the 79th class that her numbers were low. Everyone immediately began asking her questions and telling her things, and she just wanted to sink in her chair and cry. Why couldn't she have been like the rest of her classmates who met their soulmates upon arrival or had a few years after high school? She almost wished she could be like Chiyo Ueda, Super High School Level Medium, and have a broken timer so she wouldn't have to ever deal with pressure like this. But no, she had to be the abnormality, the only one who would meet her soulmate two weeks after walking through the gates of Hope's Peak. She just wanted everyone to stop asking her questions.

It didn't help that when the lunch bell rang she was immediately caught by Akamine and Ueda before she had the chance to leave. "Shizukaaaaaaa-chan~! Where are you going?" Akamine asked her.

"I was going to the dining hall so I could eat lunch." Matsuki answered. There was no point for her to lie now. She just wanted to be alone to eat her lunch until the meeting was supposed to occur, but Akamine didn't seem to get the message.

"Oooooooo! Me and Chiyo-chan can walk over there with you!" The comic artist said with a gleam in her eye. Not good.

"I do not think that would be wise." Ueda said. "I do not believe Matsuki-dono would like to be in your presence after your little announcement involving her timer earlier this morning."

"Aw don't be silly! Shizuka-chan isn't mad about that!" Akamine said. "I'm sure she realizes that I didn't mean to do it and all that stuff!" Of course she knew, but that didn't mean she wasn't upset by it. "And besides, it's only til we get to the dining hall and stuff. I mean we're all going to the same place anyway, right?"

Ueda only sighed, she knew Akamine well enough that she wasn't about to leave Matsuki alone. Akamine had her own unique way of thinking, and in her mind she was trying to make it up to the painter. "Very well then, Akamine-dono." she said. "But once we have arrived at the dining hall we must leave Matsuki-dono to her own devices."

Without Matsuki having a say in any of it, the three girls began to walk over to the dining hall. And it wasn't a minute later that the questions began once again. "So what do you think they'll be like, Shizuka-chan?" Akamine asked.

"I'm not sure." Matsuki answered, trying to hide her discomfort. "There's no way of knowing until I meet them after all."

"Maybe they'll be really handsome, or maybe they're good at sports like Ayame-chan and Hikaru-kun, oh oh oh what if they're some kind of mind reader or something?" Akamine continued to list possibilities the more they went on. At this point though, Matsuki didn't even care what her soulmate was like. She didn't even bother to check her timer to see how much longer she had left. All she wanted at this point was to make it to the dining hall.

"Hopefully it isn't someone like Teruteru-sempai, I heard that he's a total pervert!" Akamine said, stopping near the entrance of the dining hall. "Oh man, now I really want to stick with you, Shizuka-chan! We have no idea if your soulmate will end up being a total creep!"

"No, no, I'll be fine Akamine-san." Matsuki said, trying to convince her classmate that she could just move on. She truly didn't want her nearby right now, at this point she was worried and stressed enough. "I'm sure that whatever they're like, I can handle them myself."

"Are you sure, Shizuka-chan? I can get Chiyo-chan to curse them for you if you need to!" Akamine said.

"Akamine-dono, just because I am a medium and work at my family shrine does not mean I have the ability to curse people." Ueda rebutted. "You should know that by now after all."

"But my point it that if they're a super weirdo then we can chase them off for you!" Akamine said, probably louder than she needed to.

"Thank you for the offer Akamine-san, but you and Ueda-san really don't need to stay with me. Just go and get some lunch and I'll be fine." Matsuki said, hoping that this time her classmate would get the message.

"Come onnnn, Matsuki-chan! There's nothing wrong with having a bit of backup for suppo-"

"You there!" Akamine was interrupted by a loud voice, startling all three of them. Oh no, this wasn't happening. Matsuki knew for a fact there was a Super High School Level Hall Monitor attending Hope's Peak, and although she had (thankfully) never crossed him she knew that running into him was a quick way of getting in detention. This day just couldn't get any worse could it? She didn't dare turn around to face him, she just hoped that he was speaking to someone else as the sound of his footsteps came closer. "Harassment is not allowed on school grounds!" Harassment? Well she certainly wasn't harassing anybody, and she knew it couldn't be Chiyo he was talking to. Perhaps he had mistaken Akamine's behavior for harassment? That was easily fixed, all she had to do was explain that it wasn't like that at and Akamine would be off the hook. She began to turn around, preparing herself in order to explain. "If you do not stop this instant I will have to give you deten-"

*Beep*

The sound of two timers going off immediately silenced the hall monitor.

No. There was no way it was possible. It couldn't be, right? This person was her soulmate? Although Matsuki seemed to realize it instantly, the hall monitor was clearly uncertain as to who out of the three of them was his soulmate. Which was understandable, considering that the only person in her class that had even encountered him wasn't present. As he was looking at Ueda and then Akamine for some kind of confirmation, she could feel the heat in her cheeks as they became red. The silence finally seemed to be broken by Akamine as the painter grabbed hold of her scarf.

"Oooooo, he's kinda cute if I do say so myself. Looks like you bagged a realllly nice catch there!" Really? Did she have to say that?

The boy finally seemed to realize who was his soulmate, as he began staring right at Matsuki herself. The painter had no idea what to say, all she could manage was "um" and she kept stuttering. Though getting a good look at him, she saw that Akamine was right in saying that he was cute in a sense. What with his neatly combed black hair and his piercing red eyes (which due to the fact he was blushing seemed to look just right) that seemed to be locked onto her. While she certainly wasn't expecting the eyebrows, she didn't think they looked bad, in fact, they seemed to look perfect on him. From the looks of it, he also had no idea what to say in this moment. He must've been just as nervous as she was.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, Matsuki finally managed to say something. "Um, hello!" Or rather, blurt it out would be a better way to put it. Trying to remember her manners, she quickly bowed. She definitely didn't want to leave a bad first impression, or at least one that was worse than she already had left.

"Oh, yes, hello!" The hall monitor replied, also seeming to blurt it out before bowing. "It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"L-likewise!" Matsuki said, trying hard not to stare at him.

This was so awkward and Matsuki knew it. From beside her, she heard Akamine giggle. "Well then, I guess we'll just leave you two lovebirds alone then!" she said. Why oh why did she have to say those things? "We'll see you later, Shizuka-chan!" Before she walked away, she whispered into Matsuki's ear, "We'll talk more later." She gave her a wink and walked off into the dining hall with Ueda, leaving Matsuki alone with her soulmate.

She actually wished that at least Ueda had stayed, because there was no way this meeting wasn't going to get more and more awkward.

\-------------------------------------

When he thought about it, Ishimaru realized that this whole situation could be five times worse than it was. So far, the only issue seemed to be the pink haired girl and the strange things she said to the girl he know knew was called Shizuka. And to the relief of both of them, she seemed to have left. There was something familiar abut that name though, Shizuka. Ishimaru knew he had heard it somewhere before, but he couldn't place it. It was then that he realized he had forgotten to tell her his own name, what a wonderful way to leave a first impression on the person meant for him by fate. "Do forgive me, I have forgotten to properly introduce myself!" he said, almost certain that he was screwing things up so badly that he wouldn't be surprised if she wanted nothing to do with him. "My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru! I am the Super High School Level Hall Monitor!" He figured that he should tell her his talent, for he had no idea if she had even heard of him since she had just started.

From her reaction, Shizuka also seemed to have forgotten to introduce herself. "A-and I'm Shizuka Matsuki, Super High School Level Painter." she said nervously.

Oh. That's why her name was familiar.

Ishimaru had quite an interest in art, even if he wasn't the best at it himself, so of course he had heard of Shizuka Matsuki. She was one of the most well-known artists of the modern age in all of Japan, and had paintings that sold for millions of yen. She had been painting since a young age and only continued to improve the farther she went along. She had special exhibitions made solely to show off her work. He wasn't surprised to find out that she had been accepted to Hope's Peak, anyone with a talent such as that was deserving of attending the school, but to find out that of all people _she_ was his soulmate was what did surprise him. But he certainly didn't expect her to be so nervous and awkward. Of course, that was probably because of this whole meeting in general.

"So we're...soulmates aren't we?" Matsuki said, looking down at her feet. She clearly hesitated to say "soulmates" but Ishimaru didn't pay that any mind. If it were him, he probably would have done the same.

"I-it would appear so." Ishimaru answered.

There was a lot of awkward silence after that. Neither of them knew just what to say, or even how to express their thoughts at the moment without making a fool of themselves. It was only when Shizuka blurted something out again that the silence ended.

"D-do you think we could have dinner together later tonight?" Ishimaru felt his heart skip a beat. She was actually asking him out? _Him?_ Someone was actually willing to give him a chance? "I mean, that is if you want to. I mean, it's a bit too late to be having lunch and all..." Matsuki added. "If you don't want to then just forget I asked." Her last sentence almost sounded like she believed she was giving her hopes up already. As if she didn't think she had a chance.

"Nonsense! I would be honored to accompany you this evening!" Ishimaru said without thinking. "I will meet you here at six pm!"

Matsuki smiled, and Ishimaru couldn't help but smile back. "Well I guess it's a date then." she said, her nerves appearing to finally settle.

Ishimaru seemed to calm down as well. Perhaps he did have a chance after all. "Now if you will excuse me, I must go. I wish to get something to eat before lunch is over." Ishimaru said.

"Oh, right, yeah, I should probably do that too." Matsuki said with a nervous laugh. "I'll see you later then, Ishimaru-sempai!"

If Ishimaru wasn't blushing already, he certainly was now. "Yes! I shall see you this evening, Matsuki-kun!" he said heartily. He walked off into the dining hall, his heart pounding in his chest. He still couldn't believe what was happening.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru actually had a date.

\------------------------------------

Matsuki stayed there for a moment, still taking in everything that had just happened. She just asked someone out on a date. And they actually said yes. She thought she was going to completely blow it, but here she was. And she felt amazing. Sure, it was just dinner in the dining hall, but a date was a date and that's all that mattered. She didn't even care that her classmates were going to pester her (especially since she knew that Akamine was probably telling everyone that it happened at this very minute) about what happened. That was all going to happen later. Right now she was up on Cloud 9. She finally remembered that she had to go eat lunch, who knows how much time was left before class started up again, so she went to go inside the dining hall. But she was stopped by an interesting face.

Standing by the entrance was no doubt another upperclassman, as Matsuki certainly didn't recognize him. She would definitely remember someone with red hair like his (which was obviously dyed from the looks of it). She began to wonder how long he had been standing there and why. "Can I help you with something?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't blushing anymore.

"I was just wondering what you were doing with Ishimaru of all people." he answered, looking confused. "Because you certainly weren't getting put in detention, which is the only reason I can think of." Crap, this guy saw what had happened, or at least some of it. Matsuki hoped that he didn't hear anything, who knows what he would say if he overheard her asking Ishimaru out.

"Well, um..." She tried to think up of an excuse, she didn't just want to tell this guy that their timers went off. Because from the sound of it, the two of them were in the same class and he didn't think too highly of Ishimaru. "It was nothing important. We were just talking and that's all." Wow, she was bad at coming up with a lie. There's no way this guy believed her.

"I don't know, it didn't sound like you were 'just talking' to me." he said. "I mean, you don't just ask someone to go to dinner with you if you're just talking." Great, he overheard them. Though to be fair, she did just sort of blurt out that date request. It wasn't exactly subtle.

"Well, why does it matter to you?" Matsuki said, probably getting a bit defensive.

"You're part of the new class right?" The boy asked, though he didn't seem to be looking for any reply as he just kept going. "You don't seem like the Vocalist girl I met last week, so you probably don't know much about us upperclassman." Oh, this must be the baseball player. Matsuki knew that the only other person from the 78th class who would've ran into Super High School Level Vocalist Kazumi Katsuya had to have been the baseball player. She couldn't recall his full name, but she was certain his surname was Kuwata. "And that's understandable, I mean you just started so there's no way you're going to know."

"What are you getting at?" Matsuki asked, wondering what he was even talking about.

"Okay, what I'm saying is why go after a strict-ass like Ishimaru," Kuwata said, attempting to place his arm on her shoulder. "When you can get with someone like me?" He tried to smile and act suave. Matsuki stepped away, removing his arm from her shoulder. She didn't seem to have a choice now, and luckily her timer hadn't fallen off her arm just yet.

"If you must know, the reason I asked him is because of this." she said as she showed off her timer, which at this point was constantly blinking zero's. Kuwata just seemed to stare at the timer in shock.

"Wait a second, you're telling me that you're supposed to be Ishimaru's..." he began, unable to finish out of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope, it's true." Matsuki said, starting to get annoyed. "Ishimaru-sempai is my soulmate, and this is proof enough."

"Oh come on, there's no fucking way that _Ishimaru_ of all people managed to find his soulmate!" Kuwata said, still confused by the possibility. "This is just some sick joke, right?"

Matsuki couldn't take anymore of this. "Maybe it's a bit hard for you to believe, Kuwata-sempai, but it's the undeniable truth." she said. "And maybe you don't like it, but you shouldn't be insulting him like that in front of me! Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get some lunch!" With that she walked into the dining hall, not even bothering to look back at Kuwata.

Kuwata himself just stood there for a moment before realizing what he had to do. "I have got to tell this to Oowada."

\-------------------------------

The rest of the afternoon, Ishimaru couldn't feel happier. After lunch, he returned to the classroom with a radiant smile and a hearty laugh. It was such a drastic change from this morning that his other classmates were actually wondering if he was okay. Enoshima even asked him why he was acting weirder than usual, albeit not for concern, but Ishimaru just felt too excited to answer even after Hagakure thought he was possessed. All that mattered to Ishimaru was that he no longer had to worry about his timer (which finally fell off before class began so he didn't even have to worry about that). He did realize that he would have to tell them about Matsuki at some point, but that could wait until after his date tonight. The remainder of his classes went smoothly, now that he felt more focused than earlier, and time felt like it just flied when the final bell rang to signify the end of classes. Even though the date was still a few hours away, Ishimaru knew he had to leave immediately so he had the chance to get ready. He also wanted to get a headstart on his homework since he had no idea how long he would be spending at the dining hall. Just as he was exiting the classroom, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see his friend Mondo Oowada standing behind him. "Ah, good afternoon, Oowada-kun!" Ishimaru said. "I'm terribly sorry, but I must get going! I'm going to be quite busy with all my homework for this evening!"

"That's not the only thing you're going to be busy with though, is it?" Oowada asked, almost as if he knew something else was going on.

"What are you talking about?" Ishimaru said, trying to act like he had no idea what Oowada could be alluding to.

"Come on, don't go playing dumb." Oowada said, clearly not buying Ishimaru's act. "I know for a fact that your timer went off earlier, _and_ that you've got a date tonight."

How did he find out about that?! Ishimaru knew he didn't tell anyone, and he highly doubted that Matsuki just happened to tell Oowada. So how did he know? Unless someone else was eavesdropping on the conversation, but who could've been doing that?

Ishimaru didn't have the chance to ask, because Oowada continued to speak. "There's only one thing I have to ask you." His expression changed as a huge grin formed on his face. "Why didn't you tell me about it, you lucky son of a bitch?"

"Well, I was planning to tell you after I had the date!" Ishimaru said, relieved that Oowada wasn't angry.

"Aw, come on, you could've told me you met your soulmate!" Oowada said. "It's not like I would go telling everybody. Besides, I'm happy for you! I mean, I can barely speak to a girl without screaming at her, and here you are sweeping your fucking soulmate off of her feet!" The biker couldn't help but laugh. "So come on, tell me about her. I wanna know who the lucky girl is!"

"We actually didn't speak all that much." Ishimaru admitted, recalling the incredibly awkward scenario that happened just a few hours before. "All we did was introduce ourselves and then she asked me out. Neither of us were really prepared for it."

"Well then at least tell me how you ran into each other." Oowada said. "That's gotta be interesting at least."

"I thought I saw one of her classmates trying to harass her!" Ishimaru explained (and he realized at that moment that he had forgotten to deal with that girl before she walked off). "I went over to stop them and then our timers went off!"

"Really? Man, I should've known it was gonna be something like that." Oowada said, unsurprised by the events he had been told. "Of course you met her while you were doing your whole hall monitor thing!" He let out a sigh. "So is she cute or what?"

Ishimaru's cheeks turned pink. "Well, that is, she's most certainly good looking!" he said, having no idea how to say this without sounding like a fool. "I would not say that she's unattractive!"

"Hey, relax, I was just asking." Oowada said. "You haven't even told me her name."

"Her name? Oh, right, her name!" Ishimaru said, feeling ashamed that he had forgotten such a detail. "Her name is Shizuka Matsuki!"

"You mean the painter girl?" Oowada asked. "Ishimaru simply nodded his head. "Well shit, you got a real catch there! You really are lucky!"

"Yes, well, I really must be going, Oowada-kun!" Ishimaru said. "I have a lot to do to prepare myself!"

"Yeah, yeah, alright. I won't keep you." Oowada said. "But hold on, I gotta give you something." He looked through his pocket and pulled out a thin wrapper. He handed it to Ishimaru, who didn't seem to understand what it was, with a grin. "Good luck tonight, bro!" he said before giving a thumbs up and walking away.

Ishimaru just stood there for a few minutes, staring at what Oowada gave him in an attempt to figure out what it was supposed to be. It finally hit him, and his face went completely red as he tried to shove it into his own pocket. "We haven't even gone on a date yet!" he said to himself, as Oowada was already gone, before walking back to his dormitory.

\---------------------------

Just as she had expected, Matsuki was bombarded with questions from her classmates. How did it go? What was he like? Is he handsome? Did you get rejected? Did you reject him? She didn't even have the chance to answer any of them, they were coming too fast for her to respond. That is until the loud sound of a book landing on her desk shut everyone up. Standing beside the painter was Kazumi Katsuya, one of Matsuki's friends. No one really expected the two of them to become close, what with Katsuya's attitude and temper, but surprisingly the two of them managed to become fast friends in the first few days of classes. Some would even go so far as to say that the vocalist was like a bodyguard, because at least once or twice now Katsuya had threatened a few students to stay away from her since they arrived. And as the look on her face revealed, she was not happy with all of this.

"Why don'chu fuckers just back off already?!" Katsuya said. "Ya already bombarded her with questions this mornin' so I don' see why ya gotta do it again! If she don' wanna talk about it then you should just leave her alone! That is unless ya wanna go with me!"

It didn't take long for the others to leave Matsuki's desk. Katsuya took the book off of her desk and sighed. "Thanks, Katsuya-san." Matsuki said, relieved that they were gone.

"Ah, it was nothin'." Katsuya said. "Those shitheads don' need to be buggin' you anyway. It's your damn business and yours alone. Plus after that dumbass Akamine went blabbin' about your timer there was no way I was gonna let her ruin the rest of the day for ya."

"Well I'm going to thank you anyway, whether you like it or not!" Matsuki said.

"Your behavior certainly changed from this mornin'." Katsuya noticed. "I guess that means it went well?"

"I guess you could say that." Matsuki said as she fiddled with her hair. "Though it was pretty awkward."

"He isn't a creep, is he? Cause if he is, I'll punch 'im if ya need me to." Katsuya said, a mischievous smirk on her face.

"No, no, Katsuya-san! He isn't a creep at all!" Matsuki said frantically. The last thing she needed was for her friend to get into huge trouble. "We just didn't know what to do or what to say. Plus I kinda asked him out pretty suddenly."

"Woah, seriously? Congrats! When are ya' having your date?" Katsuya asked.

"Tonight at six." Matsuki answered. "Though all we're doing is eating dinner at the dining hall."

"Hey, a date's a fucking date. It don' matter what you're doin' or where your doin' it." Katsuya said. "What's his name anyway? I wanna know who to mess up if he breaks your heart."

"Katsuya-san, no!" Matsuki said. Sometimes she wished Katsuya didn't resort to violence so much. "But his name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru."

"Woah, woah, woah! Back up! Ain't that the hall monitor that put me in detention last week?!" Katsuya asked in shock.

"I believe so." Matsuki said. "That is, unless there's some other Super High School Level Hall Monitor that I don't know about."

"Man, seriously?" Katsuya said. "All the fuckin' people in the world and _he's_ the one who was made for ya?"

"Looks like it." Matsuki said. "Why, is there something wrong with him?"

"Well no, not really. I mean I'm totally happy for ya Matsuki, don't get me wrong, it's jus' that there's somethin' about him that I'm not that fond of is all."

"You're only saying that because he sent you to detention." Matsuki said with a knowing smirk.

"That's not it at all!" Katsuya said. "Okay, so that might be part of it, but that isn't the only reason! Besides, I still think it's bullshit that he sent me there."

"I'm not sure, I think he had a good reason for it." Matsuki said.

"Oh, I see how it is." Katsuya said teasingly. "Now that ya know he's your soulmate and all that crap, you're gonna agree with him about that."

"Katsuya-san, you were trying to beat up Kuwata-sempai!" Matsuki said. "Ishimaru-sempai has nothing to do with it!"

"I still think he deserved it, the fuckin' weenie." Katsuya said. "Besides, I was jokin'."

"Sure you were." Matsuki said.

"Still though, if he really is the perfect guy for ya then I ain't gonna complain too much." Katsuya said. "I can probably learn to tolerate him. But if he does fuckin' break your heart than I'm gonna wail on him, and you're not gonna stop me. Anyone who has the gall to do that to ya is askin' for it."

"Somehow, I don't think it's going to come down to that." Matsuki said. "I'm not sure what it is, but I feel like he's not the kind of person who would just break my heart like that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just let me know when the wedding is alright?" Katsuya asked.

"Oh shut up! That isn't funny!" Matsuki said as the vocalist began laughing.

"Aw come on, Matsuki, you really need to learn how to take a fuckin' joke!" Katsuya said. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Look, you're wastin' your time just sittin' in this classroom with me. Shouldn't ya be gettin' ready or somethin'?"

"I guess so." Matsuki said. She stood up from her desk and grabbed her books. "Well, how do I look?" she asked.

Katsuya looked over the painter, trying to see if there was anything she found that didn't seem right. "Ya look perfect, you're sure to knock 'im dead."

Matsuki began to blush. "Well um, I don't really know about that." she said.

"Oh come on, you're cute as hell. There's no way he would turn ya down, unless he was crazy! Now go, already, ya gotta prepare and all that shit, right?" Katsuya said. "Go get ready for your fucking knight in shining armor or whatever."

"Oh, yeah! I should probably go do that shouldn't I?" Matsuki said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning then?"

"Hell yeah, ya will!" Katsuya said with a grin. "And I expect to hear all of the details, ya got that?"

"Alright. I'll tell you everything before class tomorrow morning." Matsuki said. "I gotta go, see you later!" She excitedly walked out of the classroom and towards her dorm room.

Still standing in the classroom, Katsuya sighed. She was happy to see her friend find her match, but she still couldn't help the way she felt. She nervously laughed before looking at her own timer, which still showed that she had five years to go. "Jealousy is a fuckin' bitch."

\-----------------------------

Ishimaru checked his watch as he waited outside the dining hall, five minutes to six. She would be here any second now. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. After all, he had never been on a date before. It was a bit odd though, to think that his timer was gone. He looked at the bare patch of skin on his arm where it once was, still not used to seeing nothing there. Even if he never looked at it constantly, it was still strange not feeling something there anymore. He began to wonder of Matsuki had the same feeling. The sound of footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts as the painter came from around the corner.

As she approached, Matsuki took a deep breath. Her heart felt like it was pounding in her chest and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was just glad that Ishimaru wouldn't be able to hear it. At least this time she would be able to talk to him without things being too awkward.

"Good evening, Matsuki-kun!" Ishimaru said, greeting her with a smile.

Matsuki smiled back and giggled a little bit. "Good evening, Ishimaru-sempai!" she said.

"Well then, shall we go inside?" Ishiamru asked.

"After you." Matsuki said. She took hold of Ishimaru's hand, hoping she wasn't going too fast. Though Ishimaru didn't seem to have any problems with it, as he held hers back. The two of them walked into the dining hall together, hand in hand. They were both aware that their classmates had probably noticed them and were most likely staring (which was the truth as a few of them couldn't help but stare though for different reasons), but neither of them cared. They just got their meals and found a table with two chairs that they could sit at. Although they had been hoping to find something to talk about, the two of them remained silent. Matsuki had no idea if Ishimaru even liked art, and Ishimaru just didn't do much aside from study so he had no topic to bring up.

"Akamine-san wasn't harassing me earlier." Once again, Matsuki was the one to break the silence between them. "She's just eccentric, so she doesn't always seem to realize that what she's doing is making others uncomfortable."

Ishimaru felt relieved. Now he wouldn't have to chase her down. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at reading social cues! I did not know I was interrupting your conversation with her!" he said.

"Oh no, I'm actually glad you came and intervened!" Matsuki said. "She doesn't always understand when you don't want to be bothered. So you stepping in actually did me a huge favor!"

"Oh, well you're welcome then!" Ishimaru said.

"If it helps, I'm actually kind of socially awkward myself." Matsuki said, to Ishimaru's surprise. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but I never really made any friends before coming to Hope's Peak. I was always alone. No one wanted anything to do with me. So I have trouble sometimes tying to interact with other people. It eventually got to a point where I didn't try to make friends with anyone because they were just going to push me away. I thought that by coming here, I would be able to change that. Maybe I could meet someone who would like me. Though I didn't expect to meet my soulmate." She laughed a little bit. "But if I had to be honest, I never thought that I was deserving of one. If no one wanted me as a friend, then who would want me as a soulmate?"

"P-perhaps...I would." Ishimaru said. "In fact, I know I would!"

Matsuki blushed. Did he really mean what he was saying? "You do?" she asked.

"Of course!" Ishimaru replied.

"Why?" Matsuki asked.

"Because...I understand." Ishimaru said. "I know exactly how it feels to not have friends, and being unsure why you can't make any. Perhaps that is why we are each other's soulmate, now that I think about it. We're both lonely and awkward."

Matsuki just smiled and took hold of his hand. "Well I guess we can be awkward together in that case." she said, not even caring how rediculous that must have sounded.

Ishimaru smiled back. "I suppose so."

Sure, that day went nothing like the two of them had expected, and their meeting certainly wasn't perfect, but the two of them realized that fate had put them together for a reason. Even if their first date was about as awkward as their first meeting, they knew that some things could only grow better with time. Their relationship just happened to be one of those things. The little things didn't matter at that moment, all they cared about was that they found their other half. Whatever may happen to them in the future, they were willing to cross that bridge when it came. Because love, even when you're with your soulmate, isn't going to be perfect.

And perhaps that was just how they wanted it.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is just a really dumb thing I wrote for myself and there's probably a million things wrong but I don't care I want to have my fun. This is literally just what happens when me and a friend of mine come up with a lot of ideas for a silly AU. Before anyone asks, Mondo gave him a condom. Because why not.


End file.
